Boiler Room launches film platform 4:3, a “Netflix for the underground”

Boiler Room has launched 4:3, a free video streaming platform proclaimed as the “Netflix for the underground”. An evolution of the media brand’s origins as a gig streaming site, the new venture will see it publish video content closely linked with its music core but spanning genres such as art, film and fashion. The brand says the videos will explore themes of performance, identity, youth culture, marginalised voices and anti-establishment.

For the launch, 4:3 is featuring short films selected by guest curators Elijah Wood, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Peaches and Jenn Nkiru, screening “forgotten gems and cult classics” such as Sandup Lepcha’s In a Happy Place and Zeinabu Irene Davis’ Cycles.

4:3 will also screen limited releases, music videos and documentaries, such as Gil Scott Heron: Black Wax, The Rise of Neneh Cherry, Flying Lotus’ debut feature film Kuso, Channel 4’s I Was There When House Took Over the World, and Sun, Sea and UKG, a Boiler Room documentary about how Ayia Napa became the mecca for UK Garage in the late 90s. Other more left-field content includes Bight of the Twin directed by Hazel Hill McCarthy III, a feature film about voodoo twin cults in Benin, Africa.

To coincide with the launch, Boiler Room is releasing its first piece of original content for 4:3, titled Fleshback: Queer Raving in Manchester’s Twilight Zone co-produced with the British Council. The documentary directed by Stephen Isaac-Wilson explores queer culture in the UK city and its legacy; watch the trailer here.

Also launching with the platform is Swimming With Arthur Russell, a tribute to the pioneering cellist and electronic musician, in collaboration with New York Public Library. This will include an exhibition in London until 3 June, after which the documentary Wild Combination will be made available on 4:3.